Years of Devotion to How I Met Your Mother and Scrubs has been painful at times, as both of these hilarious but criminally under watched shows suffered from time slot shifts and near cancellation more than once. But HIMYM‘s fifth season was all but assured this year as it experienced a small uptick thanks to it’s new lead in. Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady’s superior Friends meets Seinfeld meets SciFi convention multicam sitcom has quickly become the most reliable funny show on the boob tube.

Best Comedic Performance- Male

Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory

The lanky actor with a slight lisp and a gift for comedic OCD reactions has been the breakout star on a solid ensemble cast. A virtual unknown before the show, he has quickly become the front man for the cast, doing more press than all the others four combined. And if anyone has seen his spots on Craig Ferguson, he is charming, funny, and Un-Sheldonlike. But nothing tops TBBT Christmas episode, in which Sheldon hugs Penny ( Kaley Cuoco)- that is physical comedy at it’s best.

Best Comedic Performance- Female

Jane Krakowski as Jenna on 30 Rock

She has always been funny ( look at her character on Ally McBeal), but this year, Jenna has been inspired, even profane ( black face? Seriously?). Jane and Tracy Morgan are making a brilliantly idiotic comic team. Jenna’s vacuous presence makes up for a more uneven season.

Best Drama Series

Chuck (NBC)

Okay, it’s one of the funniest shows on TV. But this spy dramedy mashup is also one of the most affecting shows I have ever had the privilege to watch. The Josh Schwartz /Chris Fedak run show has vastly improved in it’s second season ( and it’s first, strike shortened season wasn’t bad to begin with). Wildly inventive while being almost religiously devoted to geek world references ( plus a deep love of the 80s- the show adores Spies Like Us to the point of ridiculousness, but you love every minute of it). Bonus- an awesome soundtrack. Well, it is a Josh Schwartz show.

Best Dramatic Performance- Male

Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski, Chuck

We in the know and who loved Less than Perfect remember Levi as being comically gifted ( and a great singer- ” Luck be A Lady” was a series highlight for me). But his portrayal of the Nerd Herder with a government computer in his brain is a gentle mix of comedy and pathos. He breaks my heart as often as he makes me laugh. And now that he knows kung fu, I’m all agog. Brilliant.

Best Dramatic Performance- Female

Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olsen, Mad Men

As the girl who walks into the mean manly man world of advertising, she delivers a subtle, heart breaking performance. She has suffered tremendously for her ambition on both a personal and a professional level, but do not mistake her for a pushover. Moss, so winning on The West Wing as Zoey Bartlett, has really grown into a spectacularly nuanced actress.

Best Series Finale- Till it wasn’t

Scrubs (ABC)

In perfect cohesion with the rest of the series. Everyone was there. Hooch really is crazy. Beardface, Snoop Dogg Intern/Resident, Gloria, even those who have passed. A sweet sentimental moment where J.D. ( Zach Braff- still so good here) sees his future. Small cameo by Bill Lawrence himself. Then ABC ruins my deep affection for this perfect episode of a much beloved network cannon fodder show by bringing it back for a ninth season. It still is a moving show, but I can’t imagine Scrubs without J.D.

Best Series Finale That Is Actually A Finale

ER (NBC)

The Thursday night lead out for fifteen seasons, ER stopped being the big focus of NBC somewhere around the time George Clooney left. Lord knows I barely watched it in the last decade. But I tuned in all the same. And it, too, was a perfect finale. In fact, it really wasn’t a finale at all. Yes, old timer cast members came back for a visit, but it felt organic, not forced. The episode mirrored the pilot in many ways, yes, but it felt like it was true to the show as a whole. It was special because it wasn’t special.

And now the bad:

Worst “Comedy”

Kath and Kim ( NBC)

Just not funny. Too bad. I love Molly Shannon.

Worst ” Drama”

Knight Rider ( NBC)

This show wasn’t that good in the 80s when Hasselhoff was the MAN. Did Silverman and co. really think it would work now?

Moments from the season that should be remembered:

Adam Lambert’s gorgeous version of ” Mad World”, Kris Allen’s stunning rendition of ” Falling Slowly”, Allison Iraheta ‘s exquisite ” Someone To Watch Over Me”, and whatever that note was that Danny Gokey let loose at the end of ” Dream On” which wasn’t even human. ( American Idol)

An injury plagued season of Dancing With The Stars that was more entertaining than it had any right to be.

Barney Stinson is in love with Robin Sherbatsky!

While we’re on the topic of HIMYM, damn, they did the lamest/coolest job of hiding Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders pregnancies.

I cannot reiterate how hilarious the hug Sheldon gave Penny in the Christmas episode of The Big Bang Theory is. Just genius.

Chuck Bass says ” I love you”. Twice.

The entire second season of Chuck. This show is so much better than Heroes.

First off, Hugh Jackman was hilarious right off the bat, and that medley made my girls and I laugh for serious long stetch. ( Personal fave- having to mention Brad and Angie a minimum of five times). He’s also incredibly hot.

I’m also liking this new system of honoring the performers and performances. You pull out Anjelica Huston, Eva Marie Saint, Goldie Hawn, and Whoopi Goldberg, you get genuine emotion ( and with Whoopi, a few laughs). No surpsise that Penelope Cruz wins, and she’s emotional and warm and charming, finishing up in Spanish to quick for me to translate.

So far, I’m liking some of the changes the new producers put in the show. And Hugh Jackman is Wolverine.

The intro with Tina Fey and Steve Martin was another hilarious moment ( it’s safe to say that so far, this is the funniest Oscars in the last decade). Dustin Lance Black wins origianl screenplay for Milk, and his speech almost made me cry. No surprise that Simon Beaufot wins best adapted for S;umdog Millionaire. Jennifer Aniston and Jack Black present Animated feature, and Wall-E wins, another no shocker. Animated short goes to La maison la petite cubes ( or, as Gwen pointed out immediately, The House of Small Squares- those provincially mandated french classes are paying off).

Note: Aniston presents with Black, who costarred in Kung Fu Panda with Angelina Jolie, who is with Brad Pitt, who used to be married to Aniston. Notice, though, Angie was laughing during their bit.

I know I have not posted much on the Globes Sunday ( or much at all this week), but I must post from an undisclosed location until my Internet issues are all worked out. And American Idol has started, but those posts do not start till the real competition starts after Hollywood week. Although I must say this about Idol- they’re trying to kill me with sadness this year.

But back to what I’m really here to post about, and maybe a post script or two afterwards. It’s still Award season. Oscar noms come out in a few days and you know I’ll be all over that. The race got really interesting over GG weekend as Slumdog Millionairepulled into front runner position over Benjamin Button, and Kate Winslet’s stock rose 1000% with her double win- we knew she’d score one if not two noms, but she’s now on the inside track to win one, as Anne Hathaway’s stock drops and Sally Hawkins must convince Academy voters happy is just as difficult to play as middle class ennui. Kate is one of the most deserving actresses out there, and a double shot of Oscar love next week would top her out at seven nominations by the age of 32. Even Meryl didn’t do that. I’m still not convinced Kate will win one, though, as Penelope Cruz is tough competition. But seeing that both Cruz and Hawkins are in lighter films, maybe Kate the Great will sneak in and win one. She will definitely not win both. Look for Mickey Rourke to be the front runner as well, but don’t count out Sean Penn. Heath Ledger is the closest thing to a sure bet this year. Say what you will about Oscar- every once in a while, he gets some interesting material to work with.

PS- still loving Hugh Jackman as Oscar host, but I love the guy anyway ( WOLVERINE! Sorry…). And I’m actually in favor of keeping the names of presenters secret till show time. We know some will be there ( tradition states last years acting winners present the acting awards). But the rest- well, makes me wonder.

BAFTA noms were announced today, and are as follow ( my picks for winner in bold, naturally):

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE The Baader Meinhof Complex
Gomorrah
I’ve Loved You So Long
PersepolisWaltzWithBashir

ANIMATED FILMPersepolisWall-EWaltz With Bashir

Also on the horizon- the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony. Granted, this is not really an award show award show, but I still love it. This year, our inductees are Metallica ( well, okay, while their attitude about fan sharing pisses me off, they did define modern heavy metal, so yeah, they deserve it), RUN-DMC ( hellz yeah, they made hip hop mainstream, used rock riffs as samples, and btw, ” It’s Tricky” is on SingStar 80s, and it’s really difficult for this rock girl, who bombed), Jeff Beck ( duh! moment), Bobby Womack ( sure, why not?), and Little Anthony and the Imperials ( 50s era- nice throwback, more influential on soul than you might think). Nice list, a fair list, and people who bitch about hip hop being in the HOF need to shove it up their asses. Country and pop artists get inducted. In all honesty, while called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it’s always been more inclusionary and has come off as a music Hall of Fame. But no Heart and no Cheap Trick makes me cranky.

Imagine my surprise while wandering about HuffPo today when I came across the news that Hugh Jackman was tapped as Oscar host. To those of us who actually watch the Tony Awards, this is awesome news, as Hugh’s previous hosting gigs were the theater honors. He can actually sing and dance, unlike some other previous hosts, but I hope that he only does in order to make fun of everyone. And he is frickin’ funny- I laughed out loud when watching the Tonys, I remember, although what made me laugh may be lost to the wind. I say brave, bold choice, Oscar. I applaud it.